Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller (18 page)

     “I appreciate it, Sam, but I don’t want to take from you what’s needed by you and yours.”

     “Aw, hell, I’ve collected so much throughout the years some of it will surely go to waste with just us,” Sam replied gruffly. “We’ve already packed the cars with the essentials and still have half of the basement full. Laura can go down with you, pack up some of the things she knows we already have ready to go with us if we find ourselves needing to leave.”

     “We want to help, Shane,” Laura added as she put a hand gently on his arm. Leila squirmed and took hold of Laura’s fingers, trying to bring them up to her mouth so she could chew on them. Baby logic was anything close enough should definitely be tasted and gnawed on.

     “Better watch out,” Laura cautioned teasingly as Leila got the tip of one finger in her mouth and gummed it gleefully. “This one’s teething. You should get some numbing gel if you can find it. Less than a pea sized drop on the tip of your finger, just rub it along the gums, top and bottom. Otherwise, she’ll probably give you some grief.”

     “I don’t know how I’m going to handle a baby like this,” Shane admitted, finally coming to terms with how little he knew about children. Sure, he had his nephews and had always been involved with them, but he had the readily available option to hand the boys back off to his sister, or even his mother, if things got too difficult. Now it was just him and Leila. He would be fully responsible for her and he was scared.

     “You’ll handle it and one day in the far future, she’ll be very grateful to you for it. You’ve adopted her, Shane. It’s never too early to start thinking of her as your daughter. Give her everything you’ve got, and you’ll do well.”

     Laura led him downstairs as Shane stared in a new light at the little girl in his arms. Laura was right. Leila had no more family. Shane had saved her life; taken her away from a place she likely would have died, scared and alone if not for his interference. He hadn’t helped to give Leila her life, but he had helped to safeguard it. By his choices and his actions, it now fell to him to be her parent. It wasn’t the way he’d imagined himself becoming a father, but already he couldn’t see his life without Leila in it.

     They reached the bottom of the stairs and Laura briskly set about the task of collecting useful items for Shane to take with him. He had a van, so she wasn’t at all concerned that he didn’t have room for everything she gathered together. She kept her hands moving, her mind on the chore at hand so that her thoughts wouldn’t return to her father.

     They’d been incredibly close, she and Bill, and his loss ached like a gunshot wound in her heart. She knew he was gone, permanently gone. He wouldn’t be fixed, he couldn’t be helped. She’d lost her father in such a horrid way, such an alien way that she wasn’t sure she could navigate the grief properly. Through the whole automatic duty of giving Shane what she thought he needed and what she knew they could spare, she silently wept for the loss, as she had been inwardly weeping ever since Shane entered her home without Bill or Ray beside him.

     Shane knew Laura still hurt, and he made her task easier by not asking questions and not objecting to anything she piled on him. She gave him a small stove to cook on, with fuel provided in the form of little metal cans. She explained how to pop the top and light the liquid while she handed him two boxes of waterproof matches and a long-handled lighter, urging him to pick more up as he went along. Fire would be helpful for more than cooking, she noted, and added another box of the matches just in case. She gifted him with several weather-proof blankets, a solar shower that could be hung over a tree or attached to anything, really, filled with water, and heated by sunlight. Shane thought the solar shower was ingenious and appreciated that she’d given it to him. A variety of food items joined his steadily-growing collection and Laura advised Shane to raid stores and markets for food in the preliminary part of his journey. The MREs would keep, and there was plenty of food around to be commandeered at the present time. Later, when on the move or when times got harder, the MREs would be more useful to him. Though she told him to gather as much water as possible when he stopped to resupply, she gave him a full case. A medical kit, a sewing kit, a small but sturdy axe and a lightweight, metal crowbar finished off his newly fattened inventory.

     Shane saw the Walkers were still well-stocked with food, water, fuel, cooking supplies, blankets, clothing, tools, and miscellaneous materials. He was glad Sam had insisted he take some things. He didn’t know what–if anything–Stephanie had gathered up so far. Having these things would be helpful. He was especially grateful for the axe. It comforted him to have something that could be easily used as a weapon.

     “Austin and I will help you load up,” Laura said softly as she gathered one load to climb the stairs with. With his free hand, Shane grabbed the large pack of bottled water, which held thirty-five sixteen ounce bottles.

     “Thank you for everything, Laura. You didn’t have to do anything for me,” Shane said to her back as they began to climb the stairs. Laura smiled back at him.

“We’re all each other has anymore, Shane,” Laura quoted him quietly. “If that’s not enough reason for us to do for each other, nothing is.”

     Warmed by his own words and her use of them, Shane mirrored Laura’s smile as they reached the top of the landing. Austin was there, already prepared to offer his assistance. He took the load from Laura, who turned to walk back downstairs once Shane had cleared the top step.

     “This shouldn’t take too long,” Laura told him as she began her descent again. “I’d put Leila back in her car seat to wait for us to be ready. Maybe start the van up so it’ll be warm when she gets in.”

     Nodding to indicate he agreed with Laura’s suggestions, Shane secured Leila in her car seat, where she fell asleep almost immediately. He took the case of water to the van with him as he went to start it up and get the heat going.

     The night still seemed full of threat and warning. He could still sense malevolence in the shadows, almost hear the held breath of those waiting in the dark to attack and rip him open. He tried his best to ignore them, like a man whistling a cheerful tune through a graveyard to keep the ghosts at bay. If the things waiting in the dark to tear his throat out thought he was unaware of their presence, maybe they would leave him be. It was faulty logic, a child’s logic, but it was the best Shane had for the time being. The weight of the axe in his hand was an enormous comfort.

     Four trips with two extra pairs of hands had Shane’s vehicle loaded almost to the brim. He was surprised that with so much room he was nearly completely full up. Having so many supplies for Leila and himself made him feel confident and secure. He wouldn’t be going to Stephanie empty-handed. As before, he could be riding to her rescue. The thought heartened him.

     “I’ve made a list of stores I think have the best chance of having the things you need in the area,” Laura offered as she handed him a spiral notebook. She’d included helpful tips for a baby girl, the list she’d mentioned and other tidbits of knowledge she thought would help Shane. Apparently, she thought to herself, she’d expected him to leave as soon as he’d come to them.

     “Thank you for all of your help,” Shane said genuinely as he pulled her into a hug on impulse.

     Laura embraced him back, feeling like she was losing a friend she’d known all her life instead of a stranger they’d welcomed into their home just that day.

     “You have somewhere to go, someone to find?” she asked him. She was surprised to hear the thickness of tears returned to her voice.

     “I do,” Shane affirmed as they pulled apart. He didn’t elaborate further. Anything Laura knew risked being known by Trevor and Stephanie and anyone she had with her had to be kept safe. Shane would see to it as best he could.

     “Safe journeys, then,” Laura offered, trying to make her voice bright for it. She failed, and backed away as Amy stepped in and wrapped Shane in a tight embrace.

     “You saved my life,” she murmured as they held each other. She truly believed he had, so she pleaded, “Don’t leave.”

     “Let me save it again,” Shane suggested instead, though he knew it was fruitless. “Come with us.”

     Amy backed away and Shane saw the shine of tears. They turned her blue eyes nearly aquamarine; a bright, fevered color that radiated her sorrow.

     “I can’t leave my family,” she said with no small measure of regret. “Be safe, Shane. Keep that baby girl safe.”

     “You know I’ll do my best.”

     Shane extended his goodbyes to Austin, Trevor, Melissa and Sam. The stern-faced man holding his son’s hand hid a concerned, uncertain father losing one of the protectors he’d hoped to procure for his family. Sam wasn’t above admitting the thought of another man had comforted him. When it came to strength, nine times out of ten he would always believe a man was superior to a woman. He wanted strength now, a great and undeniable show of it, but here was Shane, walking away from them. Sam wanted to be angry with him; couldn’t be.

     “We’ll leave a light on if you ever come back this way,” Sam told Shane as the men shook hands.

     “I hope to see you all again,” Shane replied in an earnest voice. “I truly mean that. Keep them safe, Sam.”

     Amy watched as Shane loaded the baby in the backseat. Leila had slept through the goodbyes, and Amy regretted that. She’d wanted to cuddle the infant, inhale her sweet, calming scent. There was nothing better than a baby to stave off sadness and thoughts of darkness.

     When Amy turned away from the window, Sam knew Shane had gotten himself moving without running into any problems. He and Leila were gone, so now it was time to focus on his family once more. Gesturing Austin over to him, Sam thought of what needed to be done before they could sleep. Already more than half the night had been burned away.

     “We need to barricade the doors,” Sam said when everyone was in the living room once more. “After that’s done, you all need to sleep and I’ll take first watch. Let’s get to it.”

Chapter Fourteen

     Shane drove at a slow speed, hoping to keep a slow pace so that Leila would be lulled into dreamland until morning. He didn’t plan on making the motel until this part of the world was good and full of sunlight. The corrupted could move around in the dark, and he didn’t want any of them following him to Stephanie.

     As he drove, Shane thought of her.

     Shane was an EMT and had been for several years. He liked his job; he was good at his job. One of his hardest moments had been when he’d pulled Stephanie into the back of his ambulance, bleeding and badly bruised from a beating she had endured before she’d been violently raped and left for dead.

          Stephanie was a trusting sort. She was sweet and innocent, had a core of goodness that contrasted against her wet dream looks and sex goddess demeanor. Shane had known from the instant they’d met that there was nothing truly depraved or sinful about Stephanie. She was as pure of heart as a child and willing to help anyone in need. She loved people, all people, and couldn’t rightly fit it into her mind and the way she looked at the world that true evil existed.

     Someone had come upon her within an hour of her being left to die, and she had been crawling toward civilization the whole time. There was nothing in Stephanie that had been easy enough to break that would keep her from giving up. She wanted to live, and a combination of her own will, spirit, and fate had seen to it that she had.

     Shane had been in the ambulance that picked her up. He’d never encountered a more beautiful woman, but all he’d seen at the moment had been a wrongly wounded, delicate victim. It wasn’t a guise Stephanie wore well, and she had snapped, bitten, and thrashed against him when he’d picked her up from the side of the road. The woman who’d called about the barely moving form she’d driven by had saved Stephanie’s life, and Shane had helped her begin to repair it from that moment on. Stephanie had never forgotten or lost gratitude for either of them.

     Stephanie healed in her own way, and she had begun to look at life again as she had before her abduction, rape, and attempted murder. Shane had helped with that, and had grown to have a deep affection for her. The longer he knew her, the deeper it became.

     Now, she was in need again. Shane knew where she was and was anxious to get there. The Swan Motel was what she’d said in her message, and a faint memory of the place stirred within him. He knew where it was (though he’d never been there as it was a shady place with a less than savory reputation) and how to get there.

     As he drove, Shane observed the houses on the way, searching for evidence of people within them. He felt alone, desperately so, and he disliked the feeling immensely. The only evidence of life he saw was not the kind of life he wanted to encounter.

     At the doors to some of the homes, what could only be corrupted pounded and clawed, howled and snarled as they tried to force their way inside. Shane told himself he would stop to help if he was alone, but he could not risk Leila. The only thing he could do as he drove slowly by was offer up a prayer that light would find this part of the world before the corrupted were able to tear their way into the hiding places of those not fully taken by the plague of darkness.